What to Know
After receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2024 and undergoing treatment, Kate Middleton stepped back from her public duties as a working royal to focus on her health. But Kate’s been back to work for a while now, and aside from that situation, people are starting to wonder why we don’t see her making appearances more often.
In fact, some royal watchers are even going so far as to call Kate “lazy” for her work ethic… and it seems like her husband, Prince William, is receiving some of the flack, too.
Some believe that Kate has never committed to “a full week of work.”
In the original post that was shared on the Royalty Tea subreddit, one user claimed that since Kate is known for taking “months and months off in a row,” they’re wondering where her “laziness and lack of work ethic” is coming from.
Most of the commenters on the post were quick to agree with the OP, with one person writing, “Because she’s busy being a mom despite all her kids being in school even though us peasants do the same while working 40+ hours a week, aren’t millionaires, don’t have nannies, and don’t live off taxpayer money/property.”
Another commenter pointed out that Will isn’t much different. “It isn’t fully on Kate. Will isn’t working either,” they wrote. “I doubt, he would want Kate to work, while he is spending all his time on football forums, drinking with his friends. It would make Will look bad. I doubt, Kate is complaining about it though. She literally never had a full time job before marrying into BRF at her late 20’s. Why would she suddenly adopt a work ethic?”
This isn’t the first time she’s been called out for something like this.
After similar comments made the rounds in early 2024, a source told the Daily Mail that Kate found it “irritating” that people think she’s not working if they don’t physically see her at events and engagements.
“What the court circular numbers don’t show is the hours and hours she spends with the team designing the programs you see in public,” the insider said at the time. “Like her husband, she is deep in the reeds of the planning, something which isn’t reflected in the number of engagements undertaken each year. It’s irritating.”
Princess Anne is widely regarded as a harder worker than anyone else in her family, and has been for years.
Every year, firms analyze the workloads of the royal family to determine who worked the hardest in any given year, usually going by their official engagements. In 2024, the number one spot went to Princess Anne, who spent a lot of time filling in for King Charles after his cancer diagnosis — and she’s also been named the hardest working royal multiple years in the past.
As People reported, Anne carried out 217 engagements, compared to William, who came in eighth place with 71, and Kate, who came in last with just 11 engagements in 2024, though considering the time she took off to take care of her health, that’s not a surprising number to hear at all.
Besides, the royals’ public appearances aren’t their only work; there’s a good chance Kate’s also doing plenty of work behind the scenes to keep busy, too, even if we may never know the whole story.
